tear (v.) Copy link • tear (v.): scindo, scĭdi, scissum, 3 (a more gen. term than t., including the notion of splitting or cleaving): to t. a garment, s. vestem, Hor. Od. 1, 17, 27: to t. the sails, s. vela, Pl. Trin. 4, 1, 18: to t. the hair, s. crines, Virg. Aen. 12, 870: the asses may t. me with their teeth, asini me mordicibus scindant, Pl. Aul. 2, 2, 57. It is sometimes employed in several senses which are more usually expr. by comps., or by other words: as, to t. up a letter, s. epistolam, Cic. Fam. 5, 20, extr.: to t. down a bridge, s. pontem, Tac. H. 5, 26: to t. open one's sorrow (like a wound), s. dolorem, Cic. Att. 3, 15, ad init.: to t. asunder the ties of kindred, s. necessitudines, Plin. Pan. 37, ad fin.: v. rend.